Best In The West

champs Riley Dempsey & Sandy Truman

        Riley Dempsey and Sandy Truman picked up $500 scholarships and JBT major titles as champs of the 2010 Best In The West tournament, hosted by Brunswick Zone Mesa.

        A points system that rewards winning matches is the sole scoring method, not pinfall, creating a completely unique and fun event.  Dempsey was the scratch leader after day one, while Kyle King passed Dempsey fro the top spot on day two.  Both bowlers thus advanced to round two of the six-player finals, and watched as the #3-6 seeds played off.  In that game, Ben Canfield (245) and Zach Martinez (254) came up with huge games to eliminate Cameron Smith (208) and Anthony Tripi (184).  Kyle and Riley then joined in and defended their seeds, firing 213 and 235 respectively to oust Martinez (200) and first-time finalist Canfield (179) to set up the 1 vs. 2 title match.

        Scores were high on the previous day's house pattern, but much lower on the tricky Scorpion pattern, making filled frames a valuable commodity.  Dempsey's look was deteriorating, but he held on while King made a furious comeback from a mid-game foul, and in the end Dempsey's tenth frame spare gave him 183-181 win, the 7th title of his JBT career, and first JBT major.

        Corbin Hirsch and KJ Martinez grabbed the top two spots after two days of qualifying, and could relax while seeds 3-6 competed in a four-way game.  In that match, Sandy Truman (263) and Kristen Lee (244) blasted big games to advance, while Marina Stever (171) and Wesley Roush (196), who won the previous day's tiebreaker just to get into Sunday's bowling, were eliminated in fifth and sixth.

        In the semifinal matchup, Truman remained red-hot, this time firing 280 with pins, while Hirsch defended his top seed with an advancing 235 score.  Lee (205) finished in fourth, while KJ's 215 was a solid game but relegated him to a third place finish.

        The title match continued to be all Truman, who saved his best bowling for the last two hours of the event, throwing up virtually untouchable scores, and wrapping it up with a front-six, 273-226 win over Hirsch (a winner last month in Tucson) for the title, the third of his JBT career.  His win came with an extra $100 for rolling Ebonite equipment to the decisive triumph.

        Thanks as always to the crew at Zone Mesa for a great job hosting our Tour.  Over $3,000 in scholarships was awarded at this great event- want your share?  Come on down to the next JBT event, it's that simple!

Best In The West- final results and optional scholarship winners
11/28/2010    
Arizona Conference  
   
Scratch Division  
rank name prize
1 Riley Dempsey $525
2 Kyle King $365
3 Zach Martinez $155
4 Ben Canfield $100
5 Cameron Smith $85
6 Anthony Tripi $100
7 Travis Hewitt  
8 Jory Koizumi  
9 Kyle Karpovich $95
10 Aaron Foshie $50
11 Courtney Dutton  
12 Rane Lacona  
13 Sam Amaral  
14 Derek Acuff  
15 Nick Lee  
15 Rebeca Reguero  
17 Justin Givler  
18 Travis Johnson $15
19 Joe Lewandowski  
20 Gregg Kern  
20 Chris Spinner  
20 Curtis Lindeman  
20 Delano Coveris $40
20 Marcus Stanley  
20 Labriel Leach  
20 Jacob Smith  
27 Kylee Bonneville  
27 Mark Curtis  
27 Brandon Webster  
   
Handicap Division  
rank name prize
1 Sandy Truman $600
2 Corbin Hirsch $250
3 KJ Martinez $215
4 Kristen Lee $100
5 Marina Stever $90
6 Wesley Roush $70
7 Dakota Thompson  
8 Steven Acuff  
8 Courtney Piazza  
10 Blake Kalaf  
11 Savannah Carr $15
11 Austin Albertson  
13 Alexis Atkin  
14 Zachary Rapp  
14 Alex Pellegrino  
16 Cortez Schenck $165
17 Josue Chavez  
18 Alicia Sullivan  
19 Gillian Coyle $15
20 Derek Iozzio  
20 Samantha Sickles  
22 Stan Bunce  
23 Brooke Martinez  
24 Sara Nassberg  
25 Deven Johnston $40
26 Bethany Baker  
27 Brock Hargrove  
28 Susan Sickles  
28 Kyle Thompson $15
28 Britni Glasspool  
28 Nick Skalicky  
32 Taylor King  
32 Jared Boscarino  
34 Stacey Lamb $30
34 Ryan Zent  
     
Scratch High Games:  
  Dempsey 279  
  King 279  
King 279  
Karpovich 278  
Givler 278  
   
Handicap High Games:  
Pellegrino 315  
Truman 295  
Schenck 289  
Truman 282  
Atkin 281  
   
"Leftovers" Winners: Delano Coveris & Deven Johnston
   
  TOTAL AWARDED THIS EVENT: $3,135